Saturday, December 22, 2007

Friday, December 21, 2007

"Houston-based artist Trenton Doyle Hancock has received the 2007 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, a $50,000 award given out by New York’s Studio Museum in Harlem. Founded last year -- the first went to Lorna Simpson -- by Newport Jazz Festival founder George Wein, the prize honors the artistic achievements of an African-American artist who demonstrates innovation, promise and creativity. Hancock is represented by James Cohan Gallery." Link to Artnet article HERE.

Paul Hill, an extremely angry man writing for the People's World Weekly, uses an exhibit at the Texas Southern University Museum of Art to try in vain to defend Priscilla Slade and TSU's financial situation. Its nice to see some delusional writing like THIS every once in a while, and Hill's diatribe seems to fall into the same language as the last post from the Australian- but with less pretty words.

" “Homecoming: The Third Biennial TSU Art Alumni Invitational” spit[s] in the eyes of the university’s detractors."

"Unabashedly political, one painting by Cedric Franklin titled “What If Rice Was One of Us?” portrays Condoleezza Rice with a bared back showing intricate scars, presumably a result of the lashings that African Americans receive routinely from racism. "

"It is not hard to see why the Bush cronies would make it a prime target for attack."

The assumptive tone and illogical relationship between the art exhibit, the university's history and recent embezzlement issues make it a horrible article, but it expresses a worldview that is held by many people.

"With an affinity for clothing and shoes from Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and St. John, Slade would sometimes spend up to $4,600 at a time at Neiman Marcus, according to court records. At TSU parties, [Priscilla Slade] served Johnny Walker Blue Label, a luxury whiskey that can cost $200 or more a bottle." I don't think you need Bush cronies to attack that.

The Houston Chronicle has not published an arts article in two weeks. Expect less in the future.

15days

Send letters to the editor, 250 words or less, as part of e-mail text to viewpoints@chron.com. Include name, address, and day and evening phone numbers for verification purposes only. Letters subject to editing.

This month BBAP & Spacetaker, in conjunction with Winter Street Studios, present Brian Piana and YET Torres in the December edition of The Artist Saloon.

Every third Wednesday of the month, the salon and the saloon meet. Two or three artists present creative dialogues about their work. The evening is designed for artists and drinkers.

Let's introduce artists to each other to encourage conversation and cross-disciplinary pollination between artists.

Cross-disciplinary pollination... sounds like interspecies sex... a sculpture bee pollinates the pistil of a performance artist with the germinating pollen of a drunken painter he rubbed up against last night...

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Haha! Artshouston Editor Frank Rose has been named in a lawsuit by the CCC alleging defamation over statements in a youtube video documenting the plight of residents of the Ponca Reservation. Go Frank! Fight the (Taiwanese manufacturing company) Man!

The Continental Carbon Company has filed a civil judgment in the Ponca City chapter of the Kay County District Court against Houston resident Frank Rose and 10 others identified as John Does asserting claims of defamation in a 16 minute video titled "Black Sky, White Eagle."

The video was posted on the Web site www.youtube.com Nov. 28, 2006, and as of today has been viewed 2,964 times. (Since publication that has risen to 3,753)

The carbon company operates a production facility near White Eagle and manufactures carbon black materials used in tires and other applications.

In the petition, attorneys for the carbon company state that the video contains multiple false, deceptive and misleading statements and visual representations which defame the company.

The video contains interviews with White Eagle residents and former employees of the plant and interviews with officials from the Department of Environmental Quality.

DEQ would not comment directly on the video.

Skylar McElhaney, spokesperson for DEQ, said the reputation of DEQ speaks for itself and that DEQ does not intend to comment on every allegation made in the variety of formats available to people today.

The suit is seeking injunctive relief which requires defendants to stop publishing the video and prohibits the defendants from further publication of the video in the future.

Monday, December 17, 2007

"Jack will speak and possibly grunt about art and spirituality...at 730 on Wed dec 19...it should be fun and informative...it is notsuoh's salon night and this month's topic is philosophy and religion...

"our speaker on Zorastrianism has the flu so Jack is our back up...i don't think Jack Knows shit about ancient persian religionsbut it was the best i could come up with on short notice ..thanks jack"